XDC2012 Weekend Events

Saturday: BierWanderung

We are going to have a hiking trip to the Frankonian countryside on Saturday, Sept 22. On this trip you will have the opportunity to visit some local brewery beergardens and have a taste of a small selection from the numerous local beers.

The trip itself will be an extended inverse 5 Seidla Steig: a well known tour around the city of Graefenberg.

We meet up at the Nord-Ost Bahnhof at 9:10. This station can be easily reached with subway line 2 'U2' or 'U21' going to the airport (Flughafen) or Ziegelstein. Please check the line map. We will meet on the platform of the train. To get there leave the subway station building towards the north, keep right, proceed further north until you cross the tracks, then turn right. There's a ticket vending machine on the platform.

At 9:30 the train will leave for Graefenberg where we will arrive at 10:11.

A bus will take us to Egloffstein at 10:20, and we will arrive there at 10:38.

We will then hike to Thuisbrunn. This is a steep treck with a few very interesting views in which we will cover about 3.5km and 250heightmeter. At the Elch-Brau brewery in Thuisbrunn we will have lunch, and can enjoy our first beer.

A short 1.5kms later, we are in Hohenschwaerz, where we will have a quick refreshment at the Hofmann brewerey.

Afterwards, we have a 5km mostly flat walk to Graefenberg where we will enjoy a Lindenbrau in the afternoon,

For the final part of our journey, we gratuitously walk up a hill again, so we can have another nice view of the valley and the Weissenhohe abbey on the way down (3km, 100heightmeter). Down at the brewery we will enjoy a hearty supper and some beer (they even sell Mass for the october fest frequenters), and then we can roll the last few meters back to the train.

At XX:40, a train will take us back to the Nuremberg Nord-Ost-Bahnhof. Last train out is at 23:40.
The cost of this trip should be estimated by EUR 10 per meal (2x), EUR 3 per beer (4x + ...) and about EUR 8 for transportation (either 'Bayernticket' or 'Tagesticket plus'). Bring at least around EUR 50 in cash as the breweries probably are not equipped with card terminals, and beware, the ticket-vending machines tend to only take up to 20 euro bills. The preferred ticket is probably a tagesticket-plus, which costs 16.20EUR. This gives two people (when traveling together) the ability to travel through the whole VGN network on both Saturday and Sunday.

While 4 breweries are visited, this tour is not just about beer. A total of close to 13km and 450heightmeters will be covered, so it is also going to be some taxing physical activity for the less well-trained among us. There are a few steep bits, but nothing dangerous or scary, and the way the route and schedule are planned means that the whole can be done leisurely. But if the sole goal is to simply consume alcohol, then please, stay in Nuremberg.

When you are taking part in this activity, it is necessary that you add yourself to the below list before Thursday 20th 17:00 as we need to make reservations. Please also indicate if you will bring someone with you:

Sunday: Nazi Party Rally grounds

On Sunday a trip to the Reichsparteitagsgelände is planned. This site is one of the most important historic sites of Europe, with a few Speer buildings in their typical megalomaniac style still standing. It includes a museum (Dokumentationszentrum) which provides an excellent overview of events leading up to the Holocaust, WWII and all the horrors involved. It is a must for anyone with any interest in the history of the last century, and an important lesson on a history worth preventing in future.

On Sunday, Sept. 23:

At 10:00 we will meet at the tram-station in front of the main railway station. Bring your tagesticket-plus from the beerhike :)

We will then ride the 10:27 No. 9 tram all the way to the 'Dokuzentrum', where we will arrive about 10 minutes later.

A walk around the grounds and a visit to its most marked landmarks will lead us to the "Gutmann am Dutzenteich" beergarten for lunch.

After lunch the documentation center will be visited to take the 2-3h tour around the permanent exhibit called "Fascination and Terror".
Entrance to the Museum is EUR 5, which includes an audio-guide in various languages.